CHAPTER EIGHT.
DANCING QUEEN

☆ミ ☆彡

SHE HAD TO GO HOME AFTER THAT. Whatever happened to Will had freaked her out badly. When Will had been found after going missing for a week, she figured that whatever he went through whilst missing in the woods must have been rough. But back then, she didn't know how it would have affected him. She still didn't quite understand what had happened on that field. But she knew that it was worse than what happened on Halloween.

She unlocked her bike from the bike rack, pulling on her helmet and making sure her backpack was secure on her back before getting on and beginning to pedal away. The wind whipped through her hair as she rode, her eyes focused ahead of her. A few moments passed and suddenly she could faintly hear wheels rolling behind her. As they drew closer, they became louder until the sound was beside her. Turning her head, she saw Max riding her skateboard next to Challan.

The two didn't speak, just rode in silence. Neither girl was even sure of what to say. They didn't know what to make of what they had just seen. Challan glanced over at Max again and then back at the sidewalk. She considered what she should say or if she should say anything at all.

"Do you, maybe want to, I don't know... do you wanna come over?" Challan stuttered nervously. She wasn't sure why she was nervous, it wouldn't be the first time Max would be in her house. Her vision remained ahead, not wanting to see the redhead's face. Max was surprised by her question, not expecting it. But she nodded, a smile coming onto her face.

"Yeah, sure," she confirmed.

Challan nodded, "Cool."

The two continued the journey in silence. After a few more minutes, they had made it to Challan's home. Challan hopped off her bike, resting it in the grass out front and taking off her helmet. Max kicked up her skateboard and tucked it under her arm whilst Challan went to unlock the front door. The two stepped into the familiar house.

Max looked around the house, that warm and cozy feeling that she got on Halloween overtaking her. She smiled as she followed Challan into the house. "My parents are both at work right now," Challan informed, walking towards her bedroom.

"Aw, and they're the only reason I wanted to come," Max joked. Challan's face fell and she turned to face the taller girl.

"Oh, sorry. If I had known I would've invited you when they weren't working. You can come back—"

"Challan, I'm messing with you," Max smiled.

"Right, sorry. Sometimes it's hard for me to tell if people are joking around or not. I don't have a lot of social experience," she rambled. The two entered Challan's room and placed their things down on the ground. Challan took off her shoes, Max following in suit. Challan then sat down on her bed and Max sat on the desk chair across from her. The two looked around awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say. Why would you invite her over and not have anything planned? Stupid!

Challan shook the thought from her head and stood abruptly. Max looked up at her curiously.

"Music!" Challan all but yelled.

"Huh?" Max's eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, uh, we were supposed to play each other some of our favorite songs, remember?" Challan said quieter.

Max nodded, "Yeah, I remember. We literally had the conversation today."

The black-haired girl found herself becoming embarrassed as Max looked at her with a teasing smile. "Right, yeah," she said awkwardly and Max chuckled.

Challan walked over to her music collection. It wasn't a big one, most of the albums she had received for Christmas or they had belonged to her parents because they couldn't afford to buy her music regularly. Outside of dance, music was the thing that helped transport her to another place. Challan could lose herself in a good song, all of her worries melting away for the duration of said song.

Max walked over to where Challan was standing, her eyes browsing over the collection. Max recognized some of the artists but some were unfamiliar to her. "Kate Bush?" She questioned, picking up the cassette of the album Lionheart. Challan looked over at what Max was looking at, the redhead turning it over in her palms.

Challan smiled, "Yeah. You heard of her?"

"No," Max answered honestly.

"You don't know Kate Bush?" Challan asked and Max shook her head 'no'.

"Should I?" Max asked.

Challan shrugged, "I guess not. She's not from the U.S. but she's pretty popular I think."

"Play it," Max encouraged, handing Challan the cassette. Challan took it and opened up her small boombox that her father had bought for cheap from a garage sale. The boombox, at the time, had barely worked and the speakers weren't as loud as she was sure they once were, hence why he had gotten it for so cheap. But her father had managed to fix it up to a point where it worked well enough. She put the cassette in and pressed play. Symphony In Blue was the first song to play. The two walked away from the boombox and Challan sat down on her bed. Max stood off to the side, rubbing her arm awkwardly. The shorter girl looked up at Max before patting the spot on the bed beside her. Max immediately walked over and sat down.

The two began listening to the entire album. Halfway through, Challan's eyes closed and she swayed slightly to the songs. At that point, Max paid more attention to the girl sitting beside her than to the music she was supposed to be listening to. Challan looked so content, so relaxed, and comfortable. It was probably the most relaxed Max had ever seen her. The Logan girl smiled tenderly as Kate Bush's voice softly floated throughout the room and Max found herself smiling too. Max liked it when Challan smiled. Her smile was so... pretty. Challan was so pretty.

Max froze when Challan's eyes opened and met her own. A blush began to creep up the redhead's neck and tint her cheeks at being caught staring but Challan's smile merely widened, the last song finishing up. "Well, what did you think?"

"What?" Max squeaked.

Challan's eyebrows furrowed, "Of the album? Kate Bush? Did you like it?"

"Oh uh," Max cleared her throat before shrugging. She did like it, what she heard anyway. "It was okay. I mean, not really my thing." She tried to sound cool, nonchalant. She didn't want to seem too eager or like she was trying too hard to make their friendship work if she said she liked it. She didn't want the girl to think she wasn't genuine, even if she was. In all honesty, she would probably buy that Kate Bush album and probably Kate Bush's entire discography if she could get her hands on it.

Challan's lips pursed and she nodded, feeling a little deflated. "Well, I have albums from other musicians if you want to hear something else." She stood up from the bed, walking back over to where her cassettes were.

"Is Kate Bush, like, your favorite singer or something?" Max asked, leaning back on the bed and onto her hands.

"No, but I like her voice," Challan replied, rummaging through her music. Every album that she saw just seemed stupid to her now. She didn't expect to have the same music taste as everyone else but now she wasn't sure if Max would like any of the music she liked. She began to panic, her eyes moving fast as she tried to find something that she thought the redhead would like. She just didn't know. She didn't know Max well enough to know what she might like. She knew that she liked Heart Of Glass by Blondie but she didn't have any Blondie albums. She had to get some or at least the one that had Heart Of Glass on it.

The redhead walked over to where Challan was, and began to look through her cassettes again. Challan turned to her, "What is your thing? With music, I mean."

Max shrugged, "I like the usual. Blondie, obviously. Uh, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, The Clash, Buzzcocks, ABBA." It was a mixture of different genres and it made Challan's head fuzzy. That didn't help her in the slightest. Max picked up a cassette and held it up. "I see you like ABBA too."

Challan nodded absentmindedly as she looked at the album Arrival. It was old and worn, Challan listened to it so many times because she really liked it.

"I see you like it a lot," Max continued, seeing how worn it looked. Challan's face grew hot in embarrassment and Max smirked. "What's your favorite song from here?" Max asked, opening the boombox and removing the Kate Bush album from it. She put it back in its case and looked at Challan expectantly.

But Challan didn't respond, beginning to feel embarrassed again by the answer to her question. Max looked down at the cassette she was holding and then back at Challan. She smirked again, "It's Dancing Queen, isn't it?" Challan wasn't sure if she should be happy or scared at how well Max could read her. Was she that predictable?

Challan opened her mouth to respond before closing it again, turning her head to avoid Max's eye. Max laughed, "Holy shit! Is it really?"

"It's a good song," Challan mumbled.

"Tiny dancer's favorite ABBA song is Dancing Queen. Is it your favorite song? I know you said you don't have one but come on, you have to have a favorite song," Max expressed. Challan thought it over for a moment. She did really like the song. It was the one song that could cheer her up without fail. She could never get tired of that song, no matter how many times she listened to it.

"Yeah, maybe it is. It's one of those songs that just instantly makes you happy when it plays, you know? Like I listen to it and it just makes me feel better, whether I'm having a good day or a bad one. I mainly listen to it after having a bad day though." Challan avoided her piercing blue eyes that were almost staring into her soul.

Max looked down at the album again, her eyes scanning over the worn areas of the plastic case and the paper with the album cover on it. Is that why it looked like it was listened to a lot? Max looked back up at her, "Do you have a lot of bad days?" Challan finally looked at her, their eyes connecting. She didn't even have to speak, Max knew the answer. Max turned back to the boombox and opened the cassette case, putting the cassette in and closing the slot. She pressed play, skipping the first song to get to Dancing Queen. When the song started playing, Max grabbed Challan's hands and pulled her to the center of the room.

"What are you doing?" Challan asked as Max began moving their arms back and forth to the music.

"Show me your moves, dancing queen," was Max's response, a large grin on her face. Challan shook her head, a smile overtaking her own features. Max's grin widened if that was possible, and the two began dancing around the room. They both sang along to the song, spinning each other around and dipping one another. Challan didn't think she had ever laughed that much in her life. The song was merely background noise at this point, the two girls too immersed in each other.

When the song ended, they both panted, their giggles dying down.

Max's grin remained, "I like that song too." Challan smiled over at her, the next song from the album beginning to play. Neither of them were listening to it though, just staring intently at each other. Their panting began to lessen, their grins softening into smiles. Max's freckles seemed more prominent in this moment, Challan realized. Maybe it was because of how close they were standing, which gave Challan a better view of them. After a moment of staring, Max seemed to snap out of it and break her gaze from Challan's, clearing her throat awkwardly as she took a step back.

Max began looking around Challan's room, really taking it in. There were a few posters on some of the walls. Pictures were scattered throughout the room on the walls, the mirror at her small desk, anywhere she could stick them. They were mainly of Challan, Challan and her parents, just her parents, and just other random things like the sky or trees. Her bed was a decent size and the comforter was thick and looked soft. The room itself was small but cozy, like the rest of Challan's house.

"Do you have a Walkman?" Max asked randomly. Challan blinked, shaking away whatever that was before shaking her head.

"No," she answered, clearing her throat when her voice cracked.

"Oh," Max said. The air in the room grew awkward.

"They're too expensive. I don't really care to have one anyway," Challan elaborated. "I've got that." She pointed at her boombox.

"That's not very convenient to walk around with," Max joked, trying to clear the awkwardness that surrounded them. Why was it suddenly so awkward? "What if you wanna listen to music on the go?"

Challan shrugged, "I guess I can't."

The awkwardness returned. Challan wrang her fingers together nervously as the two looked everywhere but at each other. Why are you being so weird? She'll probably stop wanting to be your friend now.

"What's your biggest fear?" Challan blurted randomly. Before Max could respond or even question why Challan asked that, the shorter girl began speaking again. "I have this irrational fear of thunderstorms. The thunder is too loud and always just cracks at random times when you least expect it. It's like it's purposely trying to scare people. And then there's the lightning. Every time I see it I think, 'what if it strikes me?' And obviously I know that lightning striking someone is rare but, it's not impossible and that's scary, you know? Like can you imagine being struck by lightning?" She rambled. Max merely stared at her in confusion and Challan cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Sorry, when I'm nervous or awkward or don't know what to say, I just state random things about myself or about the world, which I'm sure you can tell because this isn't my first time doing this and I'm gonna shut up now." Challan avoided Max's gaze, opting to look up at the ceiling.

"I'm afraid of..." Max trailed off as she tried to think of something, her mind drawing a blank. She wasn't sure she was afraid of anything. "I don't know, spiders?"

Challan's eyes were back on the redhead and she bobbed her head. "That's a rational fear. Unlike thunderstorms."

"Yeah, I've never met someone who's afraid of thunderstorms," Max cracked a tiny smile.

"Well... now you have," Challan lamely replied. Silence enveloped the two again. "Are you really afraid of spiders?"

Max blinked a few times, "Yeah." She didn't say it convincingly. "Who isn't afraid of spiders?"

"You, it seems," Challan said. Max opened her mouth and then closed it and a grin made its way onto Challan's face.

"Okay, maybe I was trying to make you feel better by telling you a random fear. I haven't really had time to think about what truly scares me," Max said.

"Being fearless sounds awesome," Challan admitted.

Max shrugged, "I don't know about that."

The two became thoughtful, a different kind of silence falling over them. This one not awkward at all. It was comfortable. This was the type of silence that Challan enjoyed.

"D-do you want something to eat?" Challan proposed after a while.

Max looked over at her, thinking for a moment before nodding, "Sure." Challan motioned for Max to follow her and the two walked out of the bedroom and out to the kitchen.

••••

Cute little Chalmax/Lofield/Maxllan/Maxan/Logfield/Mogan/Maygan/Mallan/Challax/Chax/Maxallan/Loganfield (I have no idea what their ship name should be but I'm leaning towards Chalmax) moment to hold you guys over. Please vote, comment, and support, it gives me the motivation to actually write.